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About this book

Micah

About this book

The Ideal Age

Chapter 4

1 And in future days the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; it will be more prominent than other hills. People will stream to it.⁠ 2 Many nations will come, saying, “Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of Jacob’s God, so he can teach us his ways and we can live by his laws.”⁠ For instruction will proceed from Zion, the Lord’s message from Jerusalem. 3 He will arbitrate between many peoples and settle disputes between many distant nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not use weapons against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.⁠ 4 Each will sit under his own grapevine or under his own fig tree without any fear.⁠ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it.

5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever.⁠ 6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame and assemble the outcasts whom I injured.⁠ 7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation and those far off into a mighty nation. The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from that day forward and forevermore.⁠

8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, fortress of Daughter Zion—your former dominion will be restored, the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.”⁠

The Lord Will Rescue the Exiles

9 Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor?⁠ 10 Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver you from the power of your enemies.

Israel Will Crush Its Enemies

11 Many nations have now assembled against you. They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated, so we can gloat over Zion!” 12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning; they do not understand his strategy. He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed at the threshing floor. 13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion! For I will give you iron horns; I will give you bronze hooves, and you will crush many nations.” You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler of the whole earth.⁠

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Compare Micah 4:13 and Jonathan Micah 4:13

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

In the Hebrew version of Micah, Zion crushes nations with iron horns and bronze hooves. In the Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan, its people are strong fighters, making this metaphor an account of warfare.

Passages

Micah 4:13

Hebrew Bible
11 Many nations have now assembled against you. They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated, so we can gloat over Zion!”12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning; they do not understand his strategy. He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed at the threshing floor.13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion! For I will give you iron horns; I will give you bronze hooves, and you will crush many nations.” You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler of the whole earth.
740–401 BCE Read in Micah

Jonathan Micah 4:13

Targum · Targum Jonathan to the Prophets
11 Many nations will gather against you, saying, “When will she be condemned, so that we can see Zion’s downfall?”12 But they do not know the Lord’s secrets or understand His plans. He has brought them together like sheaves on a threshing floor.13 Rise and strike down your enemies, congregation of Zion! I will make your people strong as iron and their survivors hard as bronze. You will strike down many peoples. You will destroy their property before the Lord, and their precious wealth before the Lord of the whole earth.14 Now gather in troops, city under siege! They struck Israel’s judges on the cheek with a staff.

References

“... For MT “thresh, O daughter”. ‘IMT “horn”. Jz. modifies the metaphorical language in these verses. *For MT “your hoofs”. See 7g. “the remainder of them” for MT “their hoofs” in Zech 11:16. ...”
Kevin J. Cathcart and Robert P. Gordon, The Targum of the Minor Prophets, ArBib 14 (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1989), 121.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Micah 4:13 and Jonathan Micah 4:13

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